Too Late to Love You
by crematosis
Summary: AU Albel has a surpise for Fayt. It's not something he wants to give and it's not something fayt wants to receive.
1. Too Little, Too Late

A/N: Wheee….more angst. Yeah…I just felt like I have waaaaaaay too many funny ideas, and I just needed to do something sad for a change. "Yo, I'm feeling some angst over here." XDDD

Disclaimer: Fayt doesn't belong to me, but Ludair sure does…if I ever publish my own story, you'll get to see him. XD However, I'm kinda behind on that...fanfiction is so much more fun to write than my own stuff because I get reviews to boost my ego.

Albel was in a terrible mood. It was obvious from the way he fidgeted impatiently and scowled at nothing in particular while he waited for Fayt to finish eating dinner. Normally, if he was angry about something, he would either take it out on Fayt, or his two favorite people to annoy: Cliff and Nel. But he hadn't done that. He hadn't even taken out his anger on his cooking. He angrily cooked things to perfection, his foul expression making the food afraid to get bunt. Albel let his anger smolder in his eyes, but did nothing to relieve it.

Fayt mused over what could have angered Albel. He sipped his iced tea and delicately nibbled at his food.

"I'm sure you can eat faster than that," Albel growled, watching Fayt with barely concealed impatience.

"I'm sure I can," Fayt agreed. "But eating too fast is impolite."

"Fayt, do you have to eat everything one piece at a time! Jesus, take a whole spoonful! Don't just take one grain of rice every bite."

Fayt looked surprised. "But I'm not-"

"Just hurry up," Albel commanded, losing his temper. "I have a surprise for you when you're done and at this rate, you'll never get it."

Fayt cautiously picked at his peas and then set his mouth in a firm line. Yes, he would at them all and find out the surprise.

Albel watched Fayt, his irritation with the boy slowly ebbing away as he saw his determination. _Fool, you don't even know what I'm giving you and you already eager. You like just about anything I give you._

A sudden grimace passed over Albel's face as he thought about it.

Fayt looked up at Albel in concern, swallowing a mouthful of peas. "What happemed? What's wrong?"

"Nothing,' Albel said quickly. "Aren't you finished yet?"

"Yes, but I need to do the dishes now." Fayt rose and headed towards the sink.

Albel grabbed onto Fayt's arm firmly. "No time for that."

"But-" Fayt protested, reaching towards the sink desperately.

"Look, I don't care if it's your job to wash dishes or not. You can do them late. I need to talk to you _now_." Albel dragged Fayt into the small bedroom he slept in.

"What is it?" Fayt asked, after Albel had shoved him into the room and closed the door behind them so Fayt couldn't run back to the dishes. "What's so important that you have to interrupt my chore?"

Albel sighed. "Fayt, we've been living together for three years, but-"

Fayt looked horrified. "It sounds terrible when you say it that way."

Albel rolled his eyes. "Okay, we've been living in the same house for three years, as friends. I can't do that any more. It's too much of a temptation if I stay here."

Fayt looked worried. 'What do you mean?"

"I'm giving you the damn house, alright?" Albel exploded. "That's my present to you. You don't notice anything that goes on I've fallen in love with you and I don't trust myself around you any more. Good-bye, Fayt."

It took Fayt a moment to process that. He was in shock. By the time he had snapped out of it, Albel was already leaving.

"Albel, wait!" Fayt cried.

But it was too late. Albel stormed out of the room, slamming the door in Fayt's face before he could follow. Startled, Fayt opened the door to see the front door close behind Albel. It was followed by the sound of gravel crunching in the driveway and a car starting.

"It's too late," Fayt said sadly. "If he takes his car, I can't catch up with him."

Fayt's heart dropped as he heard the screeching of tires followed by a thump and a cry of pain.

"Look what you did, Luda," a voice accused. "You killed him."

"It's not my fault," the other man protested. "The damn kid was standing in the middle of the road."

Fayt closed his eyes against the pain. A single tear glistened down his cheek. It was too late. Now Albel would never know how he felt.


	2. I came to love you late

A/N: Strangely….this whole story idea came to me while I was eating dinner…which was rice, peas, iced tea, and chicken…which is why I made Fayt eat that in the story. XD I was easing rather slowly too….the whole thing came to me like a movie…Albel yelling at Fayt and saying he had a surprise for him…I didn't know what it was either…until Albel was storming off and Fayt was left alone. I kind of had to modify it a little, because I couldn't remember exactly how it went…and I also decided to divide it into two parts….well…at least two, just because I'm evil and wanted you to panic and go, "What will Fayt do?"

Disclaimer: Ludair and Fier are mine….but nothing else is.

Fayt slowly walked over to the fireplace and saw the picture of Albel that had been placed on the mantel. Albel standing in front of the house, sticking out his tongue immaturely. Fayt gently tipped the picture over. They had been living in the house for three years together. They used to fight a lot before they came to live with each other. They couldn't afford the house on their own, but only by pooling their money.

Fayt clenched his hands into a fist. If only he had seen the signs earlier. He had liked Albel for a long time, even back when they were fighting in high school. Fighting with Albel had always made him happy. When they graduated from high school, both of them had nowhere to go. Their parents had both died and their guardians could no longer take care of them. They realized how similar they both were and had decided to live together.

Fayt leaned against the wall, trying to fight back the tears. Albel had always cared for him and he had cared for Albel. Why couldn't they have been happy together?

A sudden scream from outside jerked Fayt out of his musings. He looked worriedly towards the front door.

"Oh my god, it's a zombie! Ludair, save me!"

"Easy, Fier. It's not a zombie. He's still alive," Ludair murmured. (A/N: -laughs loudly and longly just like Shigure from Fruits Basket- You thought Albel was dead, didn't you? XDDDDDDDDDD I love doing this!)

"Yes, no thanks to you buddy," a familiar angry voice shouted. "What the fuck was that? Were you honestly trying to kill me? Do you call that driving? You're a fucking idiot!"

Fayt's heart skipped a beat. Albel was still alive? He had another chance.

"Now he's trying to kill you! It's a cursed day, I tell you! Someone has to die!"

"Shut up and help me," Ludair wheezed.

Fayt raced outside. "Albel!" he shouted joyfully.

Albel was lying on the ground, reaching up to try to strangle the silver-haired man who had bent over to look at him. A redhead was nearby, running around spazzing. The scene outside momentarily froze as they noticed Fayt.

Albel looked at Fayt, slightly startled. He released Ludair's collar and the man moved away from him quickly. "What are you doing out here?" he asked softly.

"I thought you were dead," Fayt whispered. "I heard the crunch of impact and-" He shuddered.

Albel sighed and attempted to get up, by winced in pain. "I'm okay, Fayt. He tried to stop, so he didn't hit me all that hard. I just blacked out of a second." He shot a murderous glance at Fier, the redhead, who was sitting, shaking with barely controlled excitement. "It's just because of that idiot that you assumed I was dead. If you had just heard the impact, you would have come out to see if I was okay."

"But you looked dead," Fier said nervously. He fidgeted.

"Keep quiet and keep still!" Albel roared. "As soon as I can stand, I will kick your ass!"

"No, don't get up," Fayt said quickly. "You're in no condition to fight. You might have broken something."

Albel scowled. "I'm fine, Fayt."

Fayt gently knelt down and heaved Albel to his feet and walked him back inside, supporting him. Albel glowered at this, but he was too weak to push Fayt away.

Once they were inside, Fayt lowered Albel onto a couch. "Why did you give me the house?" Fayt asked quietly.

"It's none of your business," Albel snapped.

"Please, tell me. I care about you."

Albel sighed and rolled his eyes. "I can't stand being near you, but I didn't want to kick you out of the house because of me, so I figured the best way would be if I left."

"And look what happened," Fayt murmured.

Albel scowled. "It's all your fault."

Fayt looked stunned.

"If you had eaten a little faster, I probably wouldn't have gotten hit," Albel continued, staring holed into the ceiling.

"I'm sorry," Fayt whispered.

"Damn it," Albel growled. "I love you too much. I can't take it! Let me go!" He attempted to rise, but Fayt pushed him back down.

"Albel, don't you see?" Fayt said miserably. "I don't want the house."

"Fine then, I'll take the bloody house and you can go."

Fayt knelt and rested his head on Albel's chest. "I don't want the house. I want you."

Albel looked surprised. "You still care about me after I yelled at you and blamed you?"

Fayt nodded sadly. "I can't stop caring. I care so much that it hurts."

Albel looked thoughtful. "That's a special kind of caring. It's called love."

Fayt turned pink. He lowered his head in embarrassment. "Well, then maybe I do love you."

Albel sighed. "Come here, Fayt."

Fayt crawled onto the couch next to Albel. Albel put an arm around Fayt's shoulder. "Forgive me, Fayt. I didn't know how much pain I was causing you. I thought I was doing you a favor by leaving. I need to give you a proper surprise."

Fayt looked curious. "Like what?"

Albel took Fayt's hands and gently kissed his fingertips, smiling at Fayt's blush. "I have plenty of things in mind."


	3. Late Nights

A/N: Alright, I'm ready to finally wrap this one up. Woo-hoo! I finally finished another multi-chapter thing! Score for me! Err, yeah…I'm an awfully lazy person, so it took a little longer for me to finish this than it was supposed to. -rolls eyes- Anyway, I hope this is a logical place to end this….I' sure it could go on forever and get progressively fluffier each chapter, but now is a good time to nip that in the bud

Disclaimer: IF, and only if I owned Albel and Fayt, I would be paid so much money, I could skip school and never have to do the summer homework that I'm procrastinating doing.

Miraculously, Albel escaped from his near-death experience with only a mild concussion and a sprained ankle. However, in the few days after the incident, he had also caught a terrible cold, probably from lying on the cold ground for too long. Fayt had insisted that Albel stay inside until he stopped sneezing every 5 minutes, but Albel wasn't taking kindly to that, or to the cold medicine Fayt wanted him to take. Fayt ended up having to chase Albel around the whole house until he could finally tackle his friend and pin him down.

Albel was not the type to stay in bed all day, even if he was sick. His ankle still hurt a little, but Albel tried not to show it. He could still run almost as fast as Fayt, even with a hurt foot. Fayt had once been captain of the soccer team, but Albel was the captain of every sport that involved the use of dangerous objects he could legally hurt people with. And he needed to be fast to escape hurt, angry players, hide behind a building, and then double back and hurt them again.

Fayt had finally caught up to Albel again, partly because Albel had tripped on something Fayt had innocently left on the floor. After Albel cursed the existence of large piles of wood, Fayt had jumped on him and knocked him to the floor.

Albel immediately rolled over, pinning Fayt to the ground instead. "Why don't you drink that nasty stuff instead," Albel growled.

Fayt grinned. "What? Are you afraid of a little medicine?"

Albel's eyes narrowed. "I'm not afraid," he hissed. "I just think it's a waste of time. I'll be fine without it." And he sneezed loudly, proving himself wrong.

Fayt sighed heavily. "Look, if you agree to take your medicine, I'll let you do anything you want, without complaining that you should be in bed."

Albel grinned dangerously. "Anything?"

Fayt looked worried. "Well, as long as you don't burn down the house or kill yourself or something like that."

"Oh, don't worry. I won't do anything like that."

Fayt relaxed in relief. "Good. I knew I could trust you. Now, drink your medicine and you're free to go."

Albel sighed reluctantly and made a displeased face as he drank the spoonful of purple medicine.

Fayt smiled at Albel pleasantly. "Okay, that's all you need for today. I'll just get up and start working on the bills." He tried to push Albel off him.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," Albel said in a low voice, with an evil grin.

Fayt looked nervous. "Uh, you wanted to so something with me?"

"Exactly," Albel purred. "Now, doctor, I know a treatment more effective than disgusting liquid barf. It'll make my recovery much faster and much happier."

Fayt licked his lips nervously. "Uh, what exactly are you planning?"

"I'll show you,' Albel said simply. He leaned down and kissed Fayt.

Fayt gasped, and immediately wished he hadn't. He frantically pushed at Albel, who obligingly rolled away from him. Fayt turned his head and spat, scowling. "Gross. You taste like…"

"Medicine," Albel finished with a wicked grin.

"Damn, this stuff is terrible," Fayt muttered.

Albel shrugged lightly. "I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine."

Fayt sighed. "I wish you wouldn't. Go wash out your mouth with something before you try that again."

"Okay," Albel said pleasantly. He swallowed a whole container of mints and grinned at Fayt brightly.

Fayt stared at him. "Sick. That's just sick. How could you do that? You're going to get indigestion or something. That's just not healthy."

"Oh, I'll be fine. I'm stronger than that. Now where were we?" Albel pushed Fayt back to the floor.

Fayt tentatively kissed Albel. "Good, you taste like min now."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Albel muttered, into Fayt's shirt. "I should definitely taste and smell like mint after eating twenty of them." He sneezed.

Fayt frowned. "You're lucky I love you so much, or I would kill you. I don't let just anybody sneeze on my shirts."

"What a terrible burden for you," Abel murmured throatily. "I couldn't stand for you to wear a germy shirt. You'll just have to take it off."

Fayt panicked. "No, no, no! Don't do that….Albel, please…don't do that…aaagh!"

Albel wrestled Fayt's shirt off, despite the other boy's protests and rested his head against Fayt's bare chest, gently biting the crook of his neck.

Fayt relaxed as Albel settled back on top of him. "Erm, you aren't going to do anything sexual right now, are you?"

Albel looked at him lazily. "Of course not. I'm sick, remember?"

"Oh good."

"But, I think we can cure that pretty quickly. Your saliva works miracles for my health."


End file.
